Category: Uncategorized

When I started bullet journaling, it didn’t take long for me to become addicted to the amazing community that has built up around the system/hobby/obsession, so I chose my Instagram user name accordingly. I was never in love with the name, really, it was just a fun identity for Instagram.

Then, when I felt I had more to say than what fit in an IG caption, I decided to start a blog and just went with my user name. Now, as I have even more to share and give back to this community, I knew it was time to transition into my own identity.

I have complete respect for the brand/system/obsession that Ryder Carroll has built and will always refer people to his site first when asked how to get started. I have said that from my very first post and I will continue to say it: out of all of the chatter out there, his site is the only place for starting your bullet journal. Thank you Ryder for creating and sharing this amazing resource! 🙂

So, why Paper & Ink Co? After playing with names for a long time, I wanted something short, simple and fun. I AM opening an Etsy shoppe very soon with lots of downloadable goodies, but I will always shout from the rooftops that bullet journaling is not about the “stuff.” All you really need is Paper & Ink! 😉

The “Co” tacked on the end traditionally stands for “Company,” but in this name, it also stands for “Community,” because there are so many amazing people that share a love of bullet journaling! So you can find this blog at:

Last week, I posted my Autumn 2016 Essentials & To Dos on Instagram. As the title suggests, this included both things I have to have for fall, as well as things that I realistically wanted to accomplish. Such as putting up my fall decor BEFORE Halloween instead after. Yikes.

So far, it’s at least given me the reminder to do something that I particularly love to do this time of year, knit. Once the heat of summer backs off a bit, something makes me want to grab my needles and start knitting away.

This fall’s project is an oldie but a goodie: the Broad Street Mittens from Knitty.com. I’ve knit them before, but with worsted weight and they came out too stiff and heavy. This time, I found the prettiest, sock-weight Merino yarn and I’m so excited to see how they turn out! (The label on mine says “Chili” but my colors seem quite different IRL than what they show, just FYI)

Here’s just the cuff so far, but I love the colors and the self-striping yarn! I’ll post more as I go.

I posted this spread on Instagram this morning and have had some requests for some closer shots to be able to read the lists, so here goes:

I found several lists of self care ideas and pulled out the ones that appealed the most to me. I also liked dividing them up into the four different areas and I tried to leave a little room in each for new ideas I come across.

I’d love to hear the different ways you’ve found to nurture yourself when needed! Please share in the comments. 🙂

Creating these videos is definitely a learning process so bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of making them! I realized after I finished all the filming that there were a few things I left out so I wanted to cover some of those things here.

Ann Kullberg’s site can be found here. My favorite of her books, Colored Pencil Portraits Step by Step, pictured below, can be found here.

To pencil in my drawings, I always use a mechanical pencil, since that guarantees a sharp pencil tip. Mine is just an ordinary .07 mm tip pencil that I got at the grocery store, nothing fancy there.

The kneaded eraser is just like the one below and and you can buy them here or at most hobby and art stores.

The pencils I’m currently using are just cheap Crayola colored pencils. I use Prismacolors in my more serious artwork but I’ve been very happy with toting these around for use in my bullet journal.

The electric pencil sharpener I’m currently using is similar to the one below:

If there is anything else that I’ve left out, please let me know and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments!

Today I want to delve a little into color theory and why it’s important to know. And if this subject seems a little boring and dry, hopefully you’ll quickly see how this applies in most kind of artwork.

I had no idea this was such a controversial topic. I once had a science teacher argue with me, saying that primary colors consisted of red, yellow and green. I soon realized that we were talking about two very different things, he about science and biology, and I about the nature of pigment. Besides, any school kid can tell you that blue+yellow=green, meaning green is a secondary color, not primary, so art>science.

Take THAT Science. 😉

So, why is this important to know when you’re using colored pencils? If you think about the colors are next to each other on the color wheel, called analogous colors, you’ll know which colors blend the nicest, like the orange and magenta in the word “TECHNIQUE:”

Analogous colors

Also, if you watch the Instagram video again, you can see that I used the primary colors to darken the secondary colors. So, for example, when you’re adding shading to purple, instead of layering more of the same color, try using blue to create a richer shade of purple. Or adding a soft layer of red to add shading to orange.

Colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complimentary colors. They usually don’t work well blended together, but create beautiful contrast in color schemes.

Complimentary colors

Sports teams will often use complimentary colors in their uniforms to show strength and power, although some teams do use analogous colors in theirs for a much different effect (Go Seahawks!).

You can also create color schemes using two to three colors in a triad:

Most people don’t actual think about color theory when they’re using it, they just know it feels right. Do you think about the colors you’re using before you put them on paper? How do you use colors in your bullet journal?

Next week, I’ll go through a design from start to finish, showing a few of the techniques I’ve already mentioned. 🙂

Ok, to be honest, even though it’s technically called a channel, I only have one video on it so far, and it’s kind of awkward and shaky. But, even though I was totally uncomfortable with the idea of making videos, I did one anyway, so go easy on me! 😉

I go through my whole bullet journal, almost page by page, including the boring, messy and mistake pages. It’s kind of interesting to see the evolution of how I use my bullet journal and how it doesn’t have to be perfect to make you happy!

I’m pretty happy with the way last week’s spread worked out for me. Even though I still didn’t do or track everything that I had put on there, it kept those things in front of me all week. I’m not ready to give up yet on my morning routine that I have down the middle of the left page, so I’m going to try another week of it.

Like I mentioned before, it only took a few minutes of putting posts into my little paper schedule before I realized I needed something a LOT more flexible. So that went digital.

Here’s this week’s spread with adjustments:

With the trackers embedded into my weekly spread, I lost the room I previously had at the bottom for a “next week” space, so I was able to but that on the other side this week. I totally forgot that I wanted to put my lunch meal plan on that side too, so I’ll probably divide the notes column in half and put it there.

All in all though, I’m really happy with the way this weekly spread is fitting into my life! Dare I say I’m getting dangerously close to bujo nirvana? 😉